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I am very excited to be featuring one of my oldest friends as Girl Swoon #11. She is something of a multi-tasking demon, with an enviable job in publishing and always a million creative projects on the side. She also makes a mean bottle of sloe gin. Take it away Char…

I work for a literary agency, which I really enjoy. We have some great writers and it’s always exciting when one of the authors delivers a big manuscript, or if we discover someone new. I also run a little business called Sweet View which sells printed drawings of London by my dear boyfriend Jack Noel. There is going to be one for each of the 12 inner London boroughs and at the moment we have 6 on sale. We wanted to make something fun and affordable that people could decorate their homes with, and which tap into a love of one’s local area. In essence though, Jack is the creative genius and I’m the admin loser, although I like to call myself sales and marketing executive.

2) Does being a woman affect your work in any way?

Well like everybody I suppose I’m carrying the weight of a lifetime of social conditioning around with me. But other than THAT… no not really.

3) Are you a feminist?

Yes, I am a feminist. Social events where the boys go shooting and the girls meet them for lunch make me feel a bit ill. But I strongly feel that many girls are just as to blame as boys for the sexism that exists in our society. So many girls have the attitude that they can’t do certain things, and that drives me crazy. Then again I feel sorry for boys who are brought up not to express emotion or be creative and I think that can be just as life-ruining as the kind of sexism girls experience.

4) What are your future plans?

To build Sweet View and to keep progressing in the publishing industry. I have many second tier plans though: whittling an entire set of chess pieces for example.

5) Tell us one cool thing we don’t know already:

I’ve given up washing my hair and I’m writing a blog about it. It’s not cool, in fact it’s really disgusting but I just want to see if I can give up shampoo and still have nice hair. I’m three weeks in and the back of my head is a dripping mass of vile-ness. I’m getting anxious about resting my head against the sofa when I watch TV for fear of making a mark.